


Finding Solace

by PhantomRose54



Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: F/M, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Revenge, Slow Burn, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:08:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22409200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomRose54/pseuds/PhantomRose54
Summary: A solo camping trip quickly turns into a hellish nightmare for Evelynn Foster. All she wanted was to get a break from the stress of working and the sorrow from getting dumped by her stupid boyfriend. Nothing is as it seems as she tries to adapt to a whole new world. It’s always darkest before the dawn.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 26





	1. Seal The Deal

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my story! This is my first fic, so please be gentle!

The crackles of the burning logs of wood were magically soothing, but not as soothing as the sweet and savory taste of a s’more as I shoveled it into my mouth. It was the end of day two of my camping trip in the middle of the woods, and I was fully indulging in some self-medicating with junk food and beer; the winning combo.

The past week was absolute hell and then some. Work at the hospital was more stressful than usual with a constant high patient census, everyone screaming for their medications for pain all at once, code blues, and that one guy who was so confused he was found wandering the hallways completely nude. A nurse’s work is never done. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love being a nurse, but there were days that are just simply draining both mentally and physically, and I just had a string of several of those kind of days in a row. Add on being dumped like a sack of yesterday’s turds by a douche bag of a now ex-boyfriend, and it ends up with me hiding in the woods for a few days to try to deal with my screwed-up emotions.

I polished off my third bottle of beer and shuffled the burning logs together using the metal fire poker. My thoughts kept wandering back to puzzling out where my life started to go so wrong. I was completely alone now; no family, no friends, and now not even someone to spend some of my nights with. I was feeling pathetic and lonely. I heaved out a heavy sigh and opened my next beer. The alcohol was starting to leave a pleasant tingling sensation through my body, and I was ready to swim in the feeling for the rest of the night.

I was impaling my next marshmallow on my roasting fork when I heard a loud snap of twigs coming from the woods just beyond the soft glow of the campfire. It’s normally not particularly alarming, but it quickly became a series of loud snaps, and the sounds were getting closer. Fear quickly had my stomach twisting in knots as I grabbed the fire poker for a makeshift weapon, dropping my roasting fork and unfortunate marshmallow on the ground. The sounds suddenly stopped just as quickly as they started.

My grip on the fire poker tightened as I stood up from my chair. The alcohol was giving me more courage than I should have had. I slowly made my way around the fire to the edge of the dark woods. Sweat started to gather on the palms of my hands as I strained to listen.

Nothing…

To my increasing horror, there was nothing. No chirping of crickets or singing of peepers. _I swear if this turns out to be a fat fucking squirrel or some shit, I’ll burn this place to the ground._ I thought as I tried to keep myself calm. I let out a shaky breath and took a few steps into the darkness. I kept the fire poker in a defensive pose across my body, but it gave little comfort. There was something out there, and it sure as hell was no stupid squirrel. I could feel it, whatever it was. It felt big and dangerous, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle up and sent a shiver crawling down my spine.

A chilling low pitch laughter penetrated my ear drums. I spun around to try to find the source, but I only just made myself dizzy. Thanks beer.

“Hey! Whoever is out there, cut the crap!” I called out, my voice shaking despite me trying to sound calm. _Real smooth…_ I kept trying to scan the woods around me, but still saw nothing past the inky blackness.

After a few agonizing minutes of absolutely nothing, I decided to head back to my camp. _Time to cut this trip short._ I started to trek back to my site when something suddenly collided with the left side of head, making me drop to the ground and sent a searing pain blooming across my face. I pushed back the feeling of just having had my bells rung and my stomach wanting to empty in protest and got myself up onto my knees. My fear quickly changed to full blown panic as my body was sluggish to move. I vaguely felt a hand grab onto my shirt and start to lift me up. My eyes trailed down to see what looked like black claws ripping into my clothes from its tight grip.

“Asshole, this is a new shirt…!” I blearily whined at my attacker. All I got back was low, primal growl.

The creature continued to lift me up until I was met with a pair bright silver eyes. My breath caught in my throat, and I started to feel captivated by the gaze. Luckily the painful throb in my head quickly brought me back to the predicament I was in, and before I could think I flung a sloppy right hook into the creature’s face. It wasn’t particularly powerful or graceful, but it was enough to make the thing drop me.

I scrambled to get back on my feet to make a break for it, only to be meet with a strong kick to the stomach that sent me slamming my back into a tree, making my breath escape my chest and my vision go fuzzy. The taste of iron started to fill my mouth as I slid down the tree and back down to the ground.

A small whimper escaped my lips as I saw my attacker slowly squat down in front of me. All I could see was the dark silhouette of the creature, a human like build, but I was pretty sure the thing had pointed ears and… a tail…? My mind quickly became too hazy to notice the creature lift its hand and slice its claws across my chest from the left collar bone to my right hip leaving behind a deep crevasse in my flesh. The sudden intense pain caused me to let out a loud piercing scream. Tears streamed down my face as the creature licked my blood off its sharp black claws with a long, forked tongue.

 _What the fuck is happening? I need to get out of here!_ I screamed at myself _._ I didn’t have the strength to even twitch a muscle let alone keep my eyes open, and I could feel myself getting soaked in my own blood. My brain was screeching at my limbs to do anything, hell even just flip this damn thing the bird. One way or another I wasn’t going out without a fight. All I manage to do was make a pathetic choking sound as my lungs struggled to take in a breath.

“It’s been far too long since I’ve indulged in such a sweet treat, and you my dear do not disappoint,” the creature purred into my ear. The thing chuckled, and it made my skin crawl. “I’m going to make sure to savor every last drop.” I felt the thing’s breath slowly travel from my ear down my neck and to the spot where my neck meets my shoulders. Before I could even think of a line of profanities I would spit out if I could, I felt a full set of sharp teeth dig deeply into my right shoulder. At the same time the thing stabbed its dagger claws into my already wounded left shoulder. Another agonized screamed escaped my lips, and the tears flowed even harder. I felt my consciousness start to fade.

Just as it was beginning to feel like the creature was going tear out the flesh of my shoulder, I scarcely heard voices shouting in the distance.

“I told you I heard something this way!”

“Shit! This isn’t good!”

I faintly heard the pounding of feet coming toward me. There was more shouting, and then I felt the creature’s teeth and claws get yanked out of my shoulders. A small squeak was all I could manage in response.

“Hey, hey, I need you to hold on. Just hold on…” I heard someone say in my ear as I fell the rest of the way into the dark nothingness. ~~~~

* * *

The first thing I felt was the sensation of floating, as if I was treading water on my back in a still lake. I couldn’t tell which direction was up or if there even was an up at all, but it didn’t matter. There was no pain or fear. It felt so peaceful.

“… _tam debilis_ … _rumpitur_ …” a deep voice rumbled. _Rude._ _Can’t a lady get some sleep?_ I slowly cracked my eyes open and was greeted with a view that closely resembled a night sky but was off in the most beautiful way possible. It was filled with all hues of blues and purples, and the whole sky looked it was swirling and swaying as if the stars were slowly dancing and the colors were caught up in their wake. It looked like a living painting that stretched out as far as the eye could see in every direction I looked. I quickly concluded that I had died in those woods. There was no other explanation for the scene that was in front of me.

 _Not quite the afterlife I was hoping for._ I thought to myself. _Really hoped for more… I don’t know, anything. Hell, maybe even just someone to talk to would be nice._

“My dear child, you are not dead. At least not right now.” The same voice spoke again. I scoffed; I had no idea how I should have been processing the fact I died but trying to keep my hopes up for the contrary was definitely not it.

“Joke’s on you dude, last I checked, humans need blood to live, and there was a ton of it all over me.” I flinched as the fresh memory of blood soaking my clothing flashed in my mind. I could feel fresh hot tears start to flow from my eyes. Sure, I was I feeling pretty low during my trip, but I wasn’t ready to die.

The voice made a soft ‘mph’ sound that sounded like a mix of slight amusement and annoyance.

“My ghouls are taking care of you as we speak, so we don’t have much time.” The voice started to get closer, and I could begin to make out a silhouette of a man walking towards me. “I looked for you for a long time my dear Evelynn, and now you’re finally where you need to be.” He kept coming toward me until I could clearly see him. Black hair that was a little on the longer side, chocolate brown eyes, tall, and a face I could recognize anywhere.

“Adam Driver…?!” Yup, I was one hundred percent dead. The tears stopped and where exchanged for the most intense blush I had ever felt in my life… afterlife… whichever. My inner fan girl exploded with glee and was screeching at the top of her lungs.

The man chuckled, mirth making his stunning eyes sparkle. “Not quite little one. I simply took the form of someone that I thought would make you feel more at ease.” He stopped his approach once he was just a few inches from me.

“W-well I’m d-definitely not at ease here Not A-adam,” I stuttered, quickly turning my gaze away, desperate to look at anything but the gorgeous man in front of me. My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest.

“Please, call me Lucifer. My apologies for making you so flustered. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough time for me to change forms. I have a gift of great importance to give you, and it can only be done when you’re in this state and with your consent of course.” As he spoke, he brought his hand to my cheek and turned my gaze back to him. His words put my brain into over-drive. Questions came jumping at me at a million miles per hour, and it started to make me feel dizzy and panicky. I felt him put his other hand on my waist to help keep me steady.

“L-lucifer… as in…” I whispered.

“The devil as some put it, yes,” he stated calmly. I was speechless. None of this was making any sense. I was never really one to believe that there was anything more to this world, that there was anything supernatural, or whatever the hell you wanted to call it, hiding just beyond our reach. But then again, after what just happened to me in the woods, was it really all that farfetched? The more I thought about it, the more confused and anxious I felt.

“Why me?” The only words I could manage to make my mouth speak. _I’m nothing. And what does he mean he has a gift for me?_ I felt more tears starting to prickle in the corner of my eyes, the panic and confusion were becoming overwhelming. I saw his eyes soften with what seemed like affection.

“ _A_ _mica mea_ … There is so much more to you than you know, and I know you will find the answers I cannot give you. All I can offer you now is my gift should you choose to accept it.” 

“What the hell does any of that even mean? What kind of gift? I just want to go home!” Tears were staining my cheeks again, and my breaths were becoming quick and shallow. This felt like it was all some sort of sick joke. 

“The home where no one is there for you?” His words made me flinch. “Where all of your friends left you behind with no explanation? A family that abandoned you? Where _everyone_ ends up turning their back on you?” I stayed silent, and he continued. “Accept what I offer, and I can promise you that you’ll never be lonely again. You’ll have a real home.” His thumb gently brushed away the tears on my cheek. My heart fluttered at his words.

I thought I could live my life without anyone, that I didn’t need people to be happy with life. It was true that everyone had abandoned me, so why bother trying to get close to anyone? But I knew his offer was what I truly wanted. I didn’t want to be by myself anymore… I thought for a little longer, then whispered my answer. 

“I accept your offer.”


	2. One Step Closer

Ever woken up after a night or two of heavy drinking, and felt completely disorientated and inexplicably full of regret? If not, you’re not missing out on much. It’s how I was greeted as I came back to the land of the living (ha) after I accepted Lucifer’s offer.

After I whispered those words to him, he just kissed the space on my forehead between my eyebrows and I was immediately blinded by an intense yellow light and a burning sensation in my eyes that made me think that they were literally on fire. What a shitty gift.

I let out a soft groan as my eyes slowly opened to even more blindingly bright lights, making the stinging sensation in my poor eyeballs ten times worse.

“Just take a few deep breaths dear. You’ve been through a lot and you need to relax,” a sweet feminine voice reassured me. I attempted to follow her instructions, but as I tried to suck in more air, even more pain came to join the party. My whole upper body was a horrific chorus of misery that left me whimpering and crying. Again.

“Shhh dearie it’s going to be alright,” the sweet voice crooned to me. “What’s your name?”

“E-evelynn…” I managed to croak out. My throat felt dry and tight. Some vague shapes started to appear as my vision began to clear.

“Alright Evelynn. Your wounds are all closed up, but you’re still going to feel the pain for a few more days.” _Ugh. Guess I really didn’t die._ Bitter thoughts kept running through my head as my vision finally went back to being normal. I noticed that I was lying on something soft and warm. It was a large bed that was covered in black and red sheets and blankets. My own clothes were gone, and instead I was wearing some kind of loose-fitting black nightgown.

“Here dear, this should help with the pain.” I gently turned my head and saw a woman standing next to me holding out a small plastic cup that had some weird looking liquid in it. The woman looked to be in her mid to late fifties, with kind brown eyes, pale skin, and light brown hair that poked out from her veil. The woman looked like a nun you’d see at a Halloween party; habit very form fitting and ending just above her knees. _Just where in the hell am I?_

I eyed the cup in her hand with suspicion, but didn’t think too long before giving a little nod of acceptance. If it helped to get rid of this pain, I didn’t give two shits what it was. The woman gave a kind smile and helped me to sit up then handed me the cup. I stared at liquid some more. It was thick and dark green. I could feel the large frown appear on my face.

“You’re going to have to drink the whole thing, or it won’t work.” My frown deepened. I brought the cup to my lips and took it like a shot, and almost immediately tried to spit the liquid back out. Luckily the woman was quick and held my mouth closed before I could make a mess. I felt the weird concoction slither down my throat, making goose bumps erupt across my skin. It tasted of old leaves and mildew mixed with an other worldly bitterness that made black coffee taste like pure sugar.

The woman chuckled as I choked and made high pitched sounds of disgust. “What the hell was that?” I squealed as I tried to get the nasty taste out of my mouth. The woman replaced the empty cup in my hand with another one that had what I was hoping was orange juice.

“It’s a special potion of mine. It helps to relax you while also helping with pain control. Not the best tasting, but very effective.” _Did she just say potion? Is this the Twilight Zone? I think I would rather be back with Not Adam Driver…_ “Drink that up dear, I promise it’s just orange juice. It’ll help get rid of the after taste.” I chugged the juice and was thankful to finally have my palate cleansed.

“Where am I?” I asked after my mind cleared past the unpleasant experience of that… potion? “I was in the woods… something… something attacked me…” I refused to let my mind replay the memories. The pain in my body was lessening, and I was just feeling exhausted.

“You’re safe here, trust me. Now, you need some rest before Sister Imperator comes in to speak with you.” She took the empty cup from me and left the room before I was able to ask any more questions. _I don’t think I can handle anymore creepy visits._ I looked around the room. It was intricately designed and decorated. A tall ceiling with a chandelier that hung in the middle, and beautiful dark hardwood floor. A large fireplace was in the wall off to the left of me that had a couch and a couple of chairs neatly arranged in front of it. On the opposite side of the room from the fireplace was a large set of double glass french doors that led out to a private balcony. Across the room from the bed was the door that the strange woman exited through.

I knew I was told to rest, but I couldn’t ignore the burning question that lingered in the back of my mind any longer. I needed a mirror. With the pain now gone, I was able to get myself off the bed and wander around the room. I headed toward the french doors when I noticed a plain door to my right. _Please let this be a bathroom!_ I opened the door and let out a relived sigh as my hopes came true. It was a large bathroom with a double vanity sink on the right, a walk-in shower to the right, and a large claw foot tub in the middle of the room. Both of these rooms were fit for a castle.

I took in the beauty of the room for just a moment before going to stand in front of the mirror that was above the sink. I was extremely reluctant to look at my reflection; I already didn’t like looking into mirrors due to my very poor self-esteem, and I had the feeling that whatever I was about to see was going to make all of this real. I was petrified that I wouldn’t be able to brush all of this off as the most fucked up dream or nightmare I’ve ever had.

A deep sigh escaped my lips, then I slowly dragged my eyes to look up until I was met with my reflection looking back at me. What I saw made me feel like I was completely losing my mind. It was me in that reflection, black hair that fell to just above my shoulders and was looking limp and disheveled. My skin was still as pale as ever. My eyes… _My fucking eyes!_ Instead of their usual brown color, they were a bright shade of blue. I leaned in closer to the mirror. It was like looking at the ocean in the tropics.

Before I could get too caught up in the sudden shock of my eyes, something on my forehead grabbed my attention. In the space between my eyebrows was what looked like a crescent moon lying horizontally with three rain drops next to each other going across the space under the moon. The design was about the size of a nickel and looked like a scar that had been there for many years. I blinked. _What in the actual fuck?!_ I desperately tried to wipe the mark off, but to no avail. My breaths were becoming short and panicked. I tore my eyes away from the mirror and grabbed onto the sink as tight as I could to keep myself steady. It took a few minutes of me trying to control my breathing before it finally dawned on me that where that freaky new mark was, was where Lucifer had kissed me. _That fucking asshole! Is this his stupid gift?! Did he fuck with my eyes too?!_ I felt the pang of regret stab my heart. _Never trust a handsome face. The damn good-looking bastard…_

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Freaky shock about my face aside, it’s not why I sought out the mirror to begin with. Another deep breath and I grabbed the hem of the nightgown and pulled it up and over my head. I had on a pair of black lace panties, definitely not something I owned or wore, and no bra, which gave me an uninterrupted view of what I was really trying to take inventory of. The first mark I saw was the long line that ran across my chest and down to my hip. It was light pink in color and looked like it was months into the healing process. It was the same for the teeth marks on my shoulder. I replayed the attack again in my head, forcing myself to relive the pain and terror in an attempt to make sense of it all. _This just happened… There’s no way these can be healed so well already. Was I comatose or something?_ I couldn’t take it anymore. The confusion, the panic. It became too much for me to handle.

I slid down the sink to the floor. Fresh tears streaming down my face like a river. I sat down fully on the floor and curled into myself, trying to make myself the smallest ball I could. I couldn’t hold back my feelings anymore, and the loud sobs burst out of me.

I’m not sure how long I was in the bathroom, or even what happened after my hysterical sobbing stopped. I just knew I once again woke up in the bed that felt like a cloud with the nightgown back on.

“It just doesn’t make any sense Sister… Centuries have passed since the last one, why now? On top of that she isn’t even a member of the Church!” I heard a gravelly male voice hiss.

“You think I don’t know that,” an older woman hissed back. “There’s no telling why now, but she’s here and we need to work with what we have,” the woman continued solemnly.

“I don’t trust it,” the male voice mumbled. _The feeling is mutual douche…_

“I didn’t ask you to trust it. I told you to just keep your mouth shut. Now get out of here, I don’t need you scaring her off with that big mouth of yours,” the woman snapped at him. I heard the man grunt and leave the room.

I tried to stay as still as possible to make it seem like I was still sleeping. I didn’t feel ready to talk to anyone. “I'm sorry you had to wake up to that oaf’s voice Evelynn,” the woman spoke gently. _Crap!_ “Why don’t you come over here so we can talk.” _Double crap!_ I resisted the urge to pull the blankets above my head and roll up into a blanket burrito and sat up in the bed. I saw the woman sitting on one of the chairs that was in front of the fireplace. She was an older woman with short gray hair and gray eyes. She was wearing a long black skirt with a black button up shirt. Her lips were in a soft smile, but her eyes were hard and calculating.

I reluctantly got out of the warm bed and walked over to the woman and sat in the chair that was across from her. Every joint and muscle in my body was sore and stiff, and it just increased my discomfort level up to eleven. I kept my eyes down on the little coffee table that sat between us.

“I am Sister Imperator, one of the high clergy members here in the Church of Satan.” _Come again? Church of Satan… Guess it’s not really that much of a surprise._ “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and I’ll do what I can to help answer them.” There was a moment of silence, and when I didn’t say anything, she continued on. “You were brought here after you were found in the woods just beyond the boundaries of our abbey. Our healers were able to fix your injuries. You’ve been asleep for a couple of days. Your rescue was brought to my attention when the ghouls reported that as they were bringing you in, your body produced a bright light and that mark appeared on your forehead.” Her words caused me to look up.

“So you know what this mark is? What does it mean? What’s happening to me?” The words came quickly pouring out of my mouth. I was desperate for any answers I could get. Imperator held her hands up, signaling me to slow down.

“To an extent, yes. Most of the knowledge about this has been lost over time, and we are still not completely sure about the little information we do have,” she let out a small sigh and continued. “It’s the mark of the Oracle.”

“Oracle? Like a fortune teller?” My eyebrows knitted together as I puzzled over the information.

“That’s an over simplification of it, but yes.” Her voice was starting to get a hint of annoyance in it. “It’s very rare that the Church gets blessed with an Oracle. According to our records, the last one was around four or five centuries ago. We’re not sure what your sudden arrival means, but we’re all excited to have you with us.” She gave another smile that made me feel even more uneasy.

“With you? As in you want me to stay here?”

“We need you Evelynn. Everything you need to be comfortable here is already set up for you. With your background there’s already a job for you set up in the infirmary with our healers, and this suite is yours.”

_Background? Just how much do these people know about me?_ An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as my thoughts kept running. The offer from Lucifer came back to me once again. _Is this the home he promised?_ Hope started to rise in my heart for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

Imperator must have noticed the slight change in my demeanor and took it as the chance to seal the deal to get me to agree to stay here.

“Let’s go for a little stroll. There’s something I want to show you.” I perked up more at the thought of getting out of the stuffy room.

“Would it be alright if I changed out of this first?” I lightly pulled on the nightgown. As comfortable as it was, I didn’t want to be seen prancing around in my pajamas.

“Of course. The wardrobe has all new clothes for you,” Imperator pointed to a massive dresser that sat in one of the corners of the room.

I wandered over to it and quickly poked through the contents. There wasn’t much in there, and the color scheme was consistent with red and black. _They do know that other colors exist right?_ I pulled out a pair of black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a pair of socks. I opted out of putting on a bra so the wound on my chest wouldn’t get irritated. I power walked to the bathroom and changed my clothes and brushed out my hair with my fingers as quickly as I could, I had the feeling it wasn’t a good idea to keep Sister Imperator waiting.

As soon as I left the bathroom, Sister Imperator was already heading for the door to leave the room. I swiftly caught up to her and followed her out into a short hallway. There was only one other door down to the right of my room, and then it was a dead end. We headed left and passed by two doors, one on each side of the hallway, then reached a stairwell that only went down. I followed Imperator around the massive maze of a building for about ten minutes. I was hopelessly lost, and I knew there was no way I would be able to find my way back to my room on my own. Imperator stayed quiet the whole time, and I just marveled at all the artwork and architecture we passed. There were stain glass windows, marble statues, and lavish tapestries everywhere. We passed by plenty of people was we wandered on. They ranged from young, some even being children, to older. Some were wearing church garb, while others were in street clothes. The ones that really caught my eye were the occasional people who were wearing sliver masks. The masks were demonic in nature with horns and open mouths. _Just what could they possibly be hiding?_

We were reaching the middle of yet another long hallway when a bare whisper of a sound caught my attention. There was a passageway that branched off from the main hallway on my left, and I could tell the sound was coming from that direction. I was so wrapped in the sound I went down the passageway without saying a word. As I walked further down, the more the sound became clearer. It didn’t take long until I realized the sound I was hearing was music, and it was music I recognized. The passageway came to an end with a large wooden door in front of me.

I was about to open the door when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I nearly jumped out of my skin and was barely able to keep back a terrified shriek. Sister Imperator stepped into my line of sight and just simply put a finger to her lips to signal me to keep quiet. I gave a quick nod and mimicked zipping my lips shut. She smiled slightly, then proceeded to open the door.

The music came pouring out of the door at full blast and at near deafening levels. Each note vibrated in my chest, and energized me to the core. It dawned on me then that the music was from a band I was just starting to get into. Ghost.

The room was large and had all sorts of different instruments throughout the space. The walls were covered in sound absorbing material, and the floor was all gray carpeting. I saw several people in the room, all but one of them were wearing those intriguing sliver masks.

They were finishing up the song as Imperator lead me into the room. A few moments passed before anyone noticed that we had walked in.

“Sister! We… we weren’t expecting any visitors during rehearsals today.” A man wearing a red tailcoat suit came walking up to us. I made a half-hearted attempt at hiding behind Imperator as my nerves started to get the better of me.

“Cardinal, I do apologize for the sudden interruption. I was just showing Miss Foster here around the abbey. She’ll be joining us as a new healer. Evelynn, this is Cardinal Copia. He currently leads the Ghost project, among many other duties.” Imperator stepped away from me, and I could feel everyone’s eyes land on me. My hands started to shake and get sweaty.

I found the Cardinal oddly appealing with his neatly trimmed sideburns, a small pencil mustache, and thick black rings around his eyes. One eye was a rich hazel color while the other was a captivating stark white. The Cardinal walked up to me and held out his hand. “Ah, _si, si_. I heard about your arrival Miss Foster. It’s good to see you walking around.” I took his gloved hand.

“Please, just call me Evelynn.” My voice shook as I grew more nervous by the second. _Get your shit together girl. Don’t do anything weird or dorky for the love of god!_

“As you wish, Miss Evelynn,” he replied as he gently pulled my hand up to his face to plant a soft kiss on my knuckles.

The instant his lips made contact with my skin my body went stiff before feeling like I got pushed out of my flesh. My vision went blank with nothing but white surrounding me. _Just what the hell is it this time?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you enjoyed it! I'm going to try really hard to keep up with weekly updates, but I can't promise anything! Feel free to drop me a line with any suggestions, theories, or just say hi! :)


	3. Crawling In The Dark

Copia had heard about the girl getting attacked in the woods. He was surprised she was able to survive, let alone be up and walking around so soon. After all, ghouls can be very vicious and deadly if their pining gets out of control. The Cardinal was still investigating how the grieving ghoul was able to slip through their fingers.

Her unexpected visit during rehearsal had caught him off guard and made him feel flustered. He tried to roll with the sudden introduction as best as he could, but he still had a hard time keeping his composure. It was very odd for Sister Imperator to be personally giving a tour, but the moment Copia saw the mark on Evelynn’s forehead, he understood. Sister Imperator had him look into what the symbol was due to his extensive knowledge of the secrets held in the archives of the ministry.

The girl’s skin was soft as he kissed her hand in greeting. He felt her body stiffen the moment his lips made contact. When the Cardinal looked up to ask if she was alright, he saw that her eyes changed from piercing blue irises to being completely light blue throughout the whole of her eyes. It felt like she was looking right into his soul and could see what lingered in the darkest reaches of his being. The air around the pair became cold, cold enough that Copia was able to see each of their breaths come out as a soft mist.

“ _Occurrens in horto_ …” Evelynn started to speak, her voice was steady and strong. “ _Mendacium quasi æris sonabit. Mortuus mea ipsa velit! Adiuva me placere!_ ” Her eyes looked like they were pleading. Copia understood what she was saying, but couldn’t register what she was trying to communicate.

She let out a loud painful scream, then the girl’s eyes returned to normal before her body went limp. Copia was quick to grab her to keep her from falling. He gently lowered her into a sitting position on the floor as all the ghouls came running over to them.

“What was that?!” the ghoulette Cirrus exclaimed as she came around and kneeled down on the other side of Evelynn. Cirrus waved her hand in Evelynn's face in an attempt to get her attention, but nothing happened. She looked up at Copia hoping he had some insight into what just unfolded, but his eyes were still on the girl, clearly deep in thought.

~~EVELYNN~~

The white nothingness that surrounded me morphed into a scene with a tall blonde woman wearing a tight-fitting habit with lace stockings and black stiletto heels, sitting on the edge of a large outdoor marble fountain that was surrounded by bushes and colorful flower beds. It was clear she was waiting for someone, and she was growing impatient. I tried to ask her where we were, but no words would come out of my mouth. The woman looked up and locked eyes with me. She mouthed a single word before the scene before me changed again. “ _Run.”_

The next scene looked like I was in a dark, cold basement that was filled with large bookshelves. The silhouette of two women were fiercely searching through the collection of old books. One of the mysterious figures was short with an hourglass shape figure, and the other was taller and only had a little bit of curves that were mostly on her chest.

“Are you sure it’s down here? These just look like the same boring crap that’s in the regular library,” the shorter woman grumbled. She snapped a book shut before shoving it back onto the shelf.

“I told you he said the book we need is down here! He said the stuff the church doesn’t want people playing with are kept down here, and obviously they wouldn’t want to keep what we want out in the open for anyone to get their hands on, so stop your complaining and help me find it!” The other woman was on the brink of rage as she tossed some books to the ground. _That’s totally not fishy or anything._ I rolled my eyes a little.

I tried again to ask what was going on, but again, my voice wouldn’t work. “Found it!” the angry woman exclaimed. The sudden noise made me jump. The woman looked in my direction, but it seemed that she didn’t actually see me. “Let’s get out of here. We can’t risk him finding out I was down here.” The two women disappeared as they walked further into the shadows.

The basement melted away and turned back into the white nothingness from before, though this time I heard a persistent dripping sound. I felt something warm and sticky cover my hands. I lifted them up and found they were covered in blood. What startled me more was that the source of the blood were deep gashes on both of my wrists.

“I didn’t do this…” I whispered. _Why did I just say that? What is going on?_ I then started to get the metallic taste of blood in my mouth, followed by feeling of the bottom of my shirt getting wet. I spat out a large glob of blood and lifted my shirt and saw three deep wounds stretching across my stomach. “Somebody help me!” I screamed as loud as I could. I fell to my knees as I tried to wipe the blood off of my hands.

“Evelynn!” I heard someone scream my name, and then I had the sensation of being pulled back into my body.

I came to with my body suddenly jerking forward and a loud gasp bursting past my lips. I was somehow sitting on the floor of the practice room surrounded by people. I paid them no mind as I desperately wiped my hands on my pants, thinking I still had blood on them. My body started to shake violently and I broke out in a cold sweat as my brain struggled to catch up to what just happened.

“Evelynn, Evelynn, look at me.” Someone put their hands on either side of my face and forced me to look up. I was met with a pair of kind looking eyes that were behind a feminine version of the silver mask. “You need to breathe. You’re okay. Inhale through your nose and out your mouth, follow me.” I matched her breathing with my own. After a couple of minutes, I was able to think clearly, and my pounding heart slowed down. My body still shook, but it wasn’t as bad as it was before. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, and it was making me want to sprint out of there as fast as possible. Unfortunately, I was feeling too weak for that, so the best I could do was pull my knees up and rest my forehead against them.

“What… what just happened?” I forced myself to ask. I got no response from anyone. A hand gently started to rub my back.

“Aether dear, why don’t you bring Miss Foster back to her room. It’s in the eastern wing, the top floor, second door on the right. This has been enough excitement for one day,” Sister Imperator said. “Cardinal, could you join me in my office in ten minutes?” She didn’t wait for his answer before leaving, the clicking of her heels disappeared as she made her way down the hallway.

“We’ll pick this up tomorrow then…” Copia mumbled. I looked up and watched him get up and leave the room.

“Why does Aether get to bring the pretty girl back to her room?” Someone’s voice broke the heavy silence.

“Because it’s impossible for you to keep your hands to yourself Swiss.” A larger built guy said as he walked over to me and knelt down next to the woman in front of me. “I’m Aether,” the guy pointed to himself. His gentle brown eyes captured my full attention. He then proceeded to point out the others in the room as he rattled off their names. “That’s Cirrus,” he pointed to the woman next to him, “Swiss, Rain, Cumulus, Mountain, and Dewdrop,” he paused until I looked back at him. “Why don’t we get going, you look like you’re about to pass out.” I kept my mouth shut. Whatever it was that I had just experienced still had me badly shaken and feeling vulnerable. Aether stood up and stuck his hand out to me in an attempt to help me up, but my stubborn side decided to make a grand entrance and wouldn’t let me take it.

“I’m fine, thank you though.” I started to get up on my own despite barely having any strength. I was almost standing up straight when my knees couldn’t take my weight anymore and gave out. Aether was quick to catch me before my face met the ground.

“You really don’t look fine. Trust me, it’ll be easier to let me help you,” he chuckled. He picked me up bridal style with an ease as if I weighed no more than a stuffed animal. The quick motions made me start to feel woozy. _Don’t puke don’t puke don’t puke!!_ I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could.

“And trust me, I’m totally okay. I just need a minute or two…” I said trough gritted teeth. Aether just tightened his grip on me.

“I’ll come with you Aether,” Cirrus stated. My comments were blatantly ignored as I felt Aether start to walk. _Fine, if I barf all over you, it will one hundred percent be your own fault._ Without thinking I turned my head and buried my face into Aether’s shoulder. It was oddly comforting and gave me a fluttering feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I heard Aether and Cirrus starting a conversation, but I tuned them out as the exhaustion and body aches started to catch up with me. The visions creeped back into my mind and kept playing over and over again. _Was that a part of the whole being an Oracle thing? Am I going to have to deal with this happening all the time with no warning?_ The questions kept pouring into my head and made my body shake more.

Before I knew it, my thoughts finally became quite when I finally fell asleep. It didn’t last as I was awoken by the feeling of being put down on plush surface. _Oh bed, how I missed you so._ I rolled onto my stomach and buried my face into a pillow with a soft sigh.

* * *

My sleep was dream free, much to my relief. When I woke up, my limbs were stretched out as far as they could go, the comforter was in a heap on the floor, and my pants had mysteriously vanished. I slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I felt surprisingly good, and I had temporarily forgotten where I was. The room was dark, revealing that it was nighttime. I looked over to my left to check my alarm clock to see what time it was. When I didn’t see the glow of blue numbers, I remembered that I wasn’t in my apartment but in the bizarre satanic church.

A loud gurgle noise erupted from my stomach. I had no real way of knowing how long it had been since the last time I ate anything. I got off the bed and fumbled around the room for a light switch. After tripping over various pieces of furniture that I’m pretty sure popped up out of nowhere, I hit pay dirt and finally got the room illuminated. Next, I went searching for my jeans. Luckily, I quickly found them draped over the back of one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. My chest tightened at the thought of anyone seeing me without my pants on. It’s not that I’m a prude or anything, but there are some hints of my past I want to keep hidden.

I slipped the pants back on and left my room. I was on a quest to find the kitchen, even though I couldn’t remember where it was, and I knew that I was going to get lost, it was better than sitting my room twiddling my thumbs. I descended the stairs and started wandering around. The hallways were a lot colder than I remembered from when Imperator was showing me around. I wrapped my arms around myself and occasionally rubbed them in an attempt to keep myself somewhat warm.

Five minutes passed and I was completely clueless as to where I was. My sense of direction was terrible on the best of days, and with it being difficult to see in the dim light of night, I was pretty sure I was going to starve to death in the middle of a random hallway. It also didn’t help that I was getting more anxious by the minute. I was standing at an intersection of two hallways and trying to be methodical in picking which way to go when another growl from my stomach made me groan.

“What are you doing?” A voice suddenly came up behind me, causing me to jump and let out a small terrified squeal.

I spun around and saw the soft gleam of a sliver mask. The person was wearing a black button up shirt, and black jeans. By the bigger build of the guy, I figured it was Aether, or at the very least I was hoping it was him.

“Don’t do that! You scared the crap out of me! Nearly gave me a damn heart attack,” I hissed. He just chuckled and walked closer to me, putting his hands up in surrender.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to. Just curious why you’re all the way over here. You looked like you were going to be out for a lot longer.” _Good, it really is him._ He stopped walking when he got close enough to be within arm’s reach, but not too close that it was uncomfortable. I rubbed my arms again, more so out of nerves than being cold.

“I was looking for the kitchen. I guess I kind of got lost…” I gave a sheepish grin. That made him let out a genuine laugh.

“I would say you’re right. You’re way off,” I frowned at him.

“If you’re just going to keep laughing at me, then I’ll just go and keep wandering around until I either find the kitchen or pass out somewhere, whichever comes first,” I puffed out my cheeks, spun around on my heels and headed down the hallway on my right.

“If you go down that way it will be the latter. I can show you the way to the kitchen, if you’re not too mad at me,” he called after me. I stopped walking and looked over my shoulder. He gave a small shrug, and I felt myself deflate a little. My stomach was cramping and getting worse by the second, I needed food now.

I walked back over to him, “Lead the way,” I waved my hand to que him to go first. Sure enough, he started to walk in the opposite direction I tried going. _I’m going to need a map or something…_ We both stayed quiet was we made our way through the never-ending building. I tried making mental notes of landmarks we passed by in hopes that it would help me remember the way to the kitchen, but the walk started to stretch on longer than I hoped and all the artwork and statues started to blur together. We finally reached a set of massive double doors, which Aether held one side open for me. I mumbled a thanks to him then found myself in a massive open space that had an arched ceiling with stunning chandeliers and torches spaced out evenly, large windows that let in enough light from the moon to light up the space, and long tables that stretched the length of the room.

“The kitchen’s back here,” the sound of his voice broke me out of my trance, and I followed him to the back of the room and through another set of double doors. The kitchen was commercial sized and easily had anything you could possibly want to eat. “So, what are you in the mood for?” Aether started to make his way over to one of the fridges.

“You don’t have to. I really appreciate you bringing me here, but I don’t want to keep you from what you were doing earlier any longer,” I rushed over to the fridge. I don’t like to inconvenience people if I could avoid it. Besides, I’m a grown ass woman, I can feed myself thank you very much!

I could hear him stifle another laugh. “I was just out for a walk, so you didn’t interrupt anything. Plus, I’m a little hungry myself, so why not make something for both of us?” He pulled open the fridge and turned towards me. I sighed in defeat.

“If you insist. I didn’t have anything specific in mind, just something quick,” I walked over to a stainless-steel island and leaned up against it. Aether pulled out a few bags of what looked like deli meats and put them on the island. He gathered just about everything you could need to build an ultimate sandwich. “Oh, good idea!” My patience was completely out the window as I dove into the fixings without hesitation. I piled on as much as I could on my pieces of bread before squishing them together and digging in, letting out a small content sigh.

“Thanks,” Aether went about helping himself to the spread at a much slower pace than I did. “When was the last time you ate?”

His question made me slow down and swallow before thinking it over and answering. “I guess based off what Imperator told me, probably three days now… I’m really not sure though, everything has been a blur of passing out and seeing freaky shit multiple times.” I stared at my partially devoured sandwich. _Should I tell him everything? Would he even want to hear any of it? The guy is just trying to be nice, I really shouldn’t dump my personal issues on him…_

“So you are the girl they found in the woods, right?” I looked up and met his gaze. His steady eyes made me feel flustered, making me shift my weight from one foot to the other.

“Yeah that would be me,” I said without sarcasm in my voice. My eyes fell down to my food as I went back to eating.

“Shit, I’m sorry… Do you want to talk about it?” A stray piece of food shot to the back of my throat, causing me to start coughing up a lung. Aether rushed over to the sink, and then brought over a glass of water for me. I gulped down the water, then took a couple of deep breaths after the coughing subsided.

“Thanks…” I handed the empty glass back to him. He hesitated before taking the glass and bringing it back to the sink. I finished up the last of my sandwich and brushed off the crumbs from my hands. “I should get going back to my room…” Aether turned back to me and tilted his head a little.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” my reply came a little too quickly. He gave a couple of nods then began to close the containers of food. I helped him clean up the mess and followed him as he led me back out the way we came in. We were both silent as we made our way to my quarters. Nothing we passed by looked familiar, so I quickly gave up trying to figure out which way we were going. I kept fighting with myself on whether I should take Aether’s offer on talking about the whirlwind of the past few days. Part of me desperately wanted to; to have someone to fully know what happened and maybe have some insight to any of it. The other part of me was screaming to just keep my mouth shut, that no one wanted to be a part of my self-pity party, and I needed to take care of things on my own.

I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn’t notice that we had arrived at my door and Aether had stopped walking. I ran right into his back, which I couldn’t help but notice that it was the just right amount of muscular. The second that thought flashed through my mind, I felt my cheeks heat up in an intense blush.

“S-sorry!” I hurriedly moved around him and opened the door.

“Don’t worry about it,” he chuckled. “I guess I’ll see you around then.” He turned to walk away.

Without thinking I grabbed onto his arm before he got too far away. “W-wait…! I… I think I would like to talk about… about what happened… if your offer still stands…” I nervously sputtered out the words.

He seemed like he was relieved that I changed my mind as his shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Of course,” his voice was gentle as he turned back to me. I gave a small smile as I stepped back from the door and waved my hand to invite him in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I hope you enjoyed! I'm so excited about where this story is going, and I hope you are too! Feel free to leave a comment, even if it's just to say hi, I like it when people say hi! :)


	4. Drop Dead Cynical

I’m not a morning person. Not even a little bit. If you try to wake me up before nine o’clock in the morning, there will be blood. So, when someone came bursting into my room singing “it’s time to get up sleepy head!” I started to throw pillows. My bed shook a little as someone jumped on and then proceeded to yank my blankets off. I curled into a ball, groaning loudly. With the blankets gone, I was freezing cold in my tank top and underwear.

“Come on Eve!” The familiar voice sang. The use of a nickname made me crack open one of my eyes. Practically no one called me Eve. Not that I mind at all, but it was just weird to hear it out loud. I was once again greeted with the sight of a feminine silver mask, her eyes scrunched up in what I was hoping was a smile.

“Cirrus?” I slurred; my eyebrow quirked up.

“Bull’s-eye! Now get up already! Just because you were up all night with Aether, doesn’t mean you get to sleep all day!” My face was instantly red and felt like it was on fire. I sat up into a kneeling position facing Cirrus.

“That’s not what happened!” I said, nearly screeching. “He was just being nice! My stupid ass got lost, and he just so happened to find me, and helped me out!” My hands were flailing around as I pathetically tried to explain what happened with Aether after I woke up in the middle of the night. If I could have seen her face, I was very certain she would have been smirking. After a couple of minutes of hurried babbling, I gave up with a sigh.

It wasn’t doing any good trying to explain that we just talked, well mostly I just talked. I told him about the events that lead to me coming to the church. I omitted the fact that I was dumped and what Lucifer bribed me with to accept his overrated gift. I told him about what little information Imperator did reveal to me about this oracle situation, then I vaguely described what I saw during that weird episode in their practice room. He mostly just asked some questions about my vision in the practice room, and then he left when I told him I was ready to go back to bed.

“Whatever makes you feel better. Now come on, Cumulus is saving us seats for breakfast, then afterwards Copia wants to talk to you in his office,” she said as she hopped off of my bed. As she moved around my room, I remembered that I didn’t have pants on, and I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and stretched it out to my knees, covering my thighs. _Please, please tell me she didn’t see…!_

I was about to ask what Copia wanted to talk about when a wad of clothing smacked me square in the face. “You have five minutes to freshen up in the bathroom before I go charging in after you and do it myself.” I felt my face grow hot again.

“O-okay!” I squeaked, then sprinted to my bathroom as fast as I could. I didn’t have to time to ponder the choice of clothes Cirrus made for me as I threw them on as fast as I could. With a stroke of luck, I was able to make it through getting ready for the day before Cirrus could storm in and get a free show.

I came out of the bathroom and Cirrus did an excited little bounce on the balls of her feet with a couple of claps of her hands. “I knew that would look great on you! Now let’s go!” She latched onto my bare arm, and I felt an electrifying tingle run up my arm quickly followed by suddenly feeling completely at ease, as if I was with someone I knew my whole life and not just for a day. _That was weird…_

Cirrus held onto me the entire way to the mess hall. I was able to take a closer look at the outfit she chose for me, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. A red t-shirt that had a low neckline with black lace along the edge and lace along the hem. The pants were a pair of black skinny jeans with a couple of rips in the knees. It was simple but very flattering, and it did well to cover up my new collection of scars.

Once we were in the mess hall, Cirrus scanned around the room before standing on her tiptoes and waving her other hand. She continued to pull me along toward the middle of the huge room. The mess hall was about half-way full of people as they went about having their breakfast, it was enough to make me feel weary. Crowds always had a way of sending my anxiety creeping up and making me feel on edge.

We stopped walking when we finally got in front of Cumulus at her spot at one of the large wooden tables. “Hey what took you guys so long!” She greeted us as we sat down on the bench across the table from her.

“This one wanted to sleep all day,” Cirrus answered, pointing her thumb at me.

“I’m sorry. I’m… not a morning person,” I said, scratching the back of my neck nervously.

“Well, since you guys took so long, I already picked your meals for you.”

Cirrus and Cumulus chatted with each other for a couple of minutes before a guy with dirty blonde hair and a slim build in black jeans and a white t-shirt came over with plates of food. He put a plate in front of each of us before saying a quick “enjoy” and taking off back to the kitchen. I looked down at my plate and saw that it was piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, and homefries. It was simple, but I didn’t hesitate as I started to dig in.

“Good morning,” someone called to us. I was too wrapped in my own thoughts as I ate to notice anyone joining us at the table until Cirrus nudged me with her elbow. When I looked up, it was Aether and someone else in a sliver mask, who I think was Dewdrop based on his small stature, sitting next to Cumulus.

“Oh, uh, hey,” I said, my voice shaking slightly. _Nice going you idiot._ I scolded myself as my nerves got the better of me once again.

“I’m glad to see you were able to find your way back here. I was worried I was going to find you passed out in a nook somewhere,” Aether chuckled lightly. I let out a little huff even though he wasn’t completely wrong.

“Cirrus brought me over. Apparently I have to meet up with the Cardinal after eating,” I replied, pushing some of my food around my plate with my fork.

“Yeah Aether, you kept her up so late last night, she was difficult to wake up!” Cirrus chimed in without missing a beat.

“What, are you getting jealous that it wasn’t you I was spending my time with?” I quipped back at her with a wink without thinking. My teeth clicked as my jaw snapped shut, and my cheeks grew warm from a new blush. I normally wouldn’t say something like that to someone I had just met, whether they started it or not. It wasn’t a bad thing, but it was another piece to add to the ever-growing list of weird happenings. _I’ve never felt this comfortable around someone I barely know…_ _Does this have to do with when she grabbed me earlier?_

Cirrus started laughing. “Maybe a little. I don’t want to be missing out on making a new friend,” she said as she gave me a little shove with her shoulder. It made me relax slightly and I let out a quick huff of a laugh.

“Aw Evelynn, can I be your _friend_ too?” Dewdrop emphasized the word ‘friend’ as he leaned in towards me, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. I pretended to think it over, tapping my finger on my chin.

“Hmm I think I’ll make you work for it,” I told him as I pointed my fork at him, a slight smirk on my face. He leaned even closer to me, and before I could say anything else, he stuck out his tongue and took one long lick along the prongs of my fork. “Classy,” I remarked as I stabbed the fork into some of the homefries, leaving it standing upright. Without hesitating, Dewdrop took my plate and started eating what I didn’t get to.

“Really Dew?” Cirrus scolded him.

“What? Sharing is caring,” he replied with a mouth full of food.

“Well enjoy the sloppy seconds. I was pretty much done anyway,” I said, waving my hand a little. I only ate about a third of my food; my appetite had pretty much left when the guys showed up. I turned to Cirrus. “We should probably get going to the Cardinal’s office, right?” She looked at me for a moment then nodded her head.

“I’ll come with you guys,” Cumulus said as she stood up with us. I gave a quick wave with a mumbled ‘later’ to the guys as I began to follow Cirrus and Cumulus to the doors of the mess hall.

Surprisingly it didn’t take us too long to reach Copia’s office. It was set across the way from the massive library. I was distracted by the gorgeous collection of books as Cirrus knocked on the door that had some weird sigils carved into it. A large part of me wanted to try to sneak off into the library and look through what it contained. I enjoyed reading from time to time during what little free time I had, and the idea of finding a book to get lost in was a much more appealing idea than talking with Copia at the moment. My heart clenched and my body tensed up thinking about seeing him after the spectacle I made of myself in the practice room. Before I could even shift my foot to head in the direction of the library, the door opened.

“Ladies, please come in,” I recognized Copia’s voice as he appeared in the doorway. He was wearing a black cassock with embroidery on the belt. We walked into his office, and I was surprised to see that it wasn’t large and well decorated as everywhere else had been. The walls were just floor to ceiling bookshelves, there was desk in the middle of the room that was cluttered with books and papers, and off to the left was a small sitting area that had a loveseat and a few chairs. “Miss Evelynn, please have a seat. Cirrus, Cumulus, thank you for bringing her here. I’ll see you both this afternoon,” he gestured toward the sitting area. Cirrus grabbed one of my hands and gave a reassuring squeeze.

“We’ll see you later, okay?” she told me before turning and leaving with Cumulus. I nodded and gave a small wave, then sat down in one of the chairs.

The Cardinal gently closed the door after they left, then breezed over to his desk and shuffled around the papers before finding what he was looking for and joining me in the sitting area. He handed me the stack of papers he grabbed, then sat in one of the chairs across from me. I was a little hesitant when I took the papers, it looked to be about twenty pages long and filled with neat handwriting.

“Those pages have all of the information we have related to the Oracles in our archives. I had to translate all of it since the sources are all centuries old and are… difficult to understand,” he shifted in his seat a little. My eyes went from the papers in my hands to him and then back again. _How was he able to do all of this in such a short amount of time?_ “Sister Imperator has thought it would be best that we work on trying to understand how your… hmm… visions… work. I’m afraid that due to the unfortunate lack of knowledge we have, we are going to learn from trial and error,” he made a little flourish with his hands as he carefully picked his words. My eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“What do you mean by ‘trial and error’? I’m not a science experiment, and I’m not exactly jumping with glee at the thought of going through another one of those visions or whatever any time soon,” I scowled. “Besides, I thought I was supposed to work in the infirmary or something.” Copia stiffened at my words. Dread started to wiggle its way through me, making my hands start to shake a little.

“Yes… well… Sister Imperator believes it’s important that you learn how to control your visions first. It wouldn’t be a good idea for you to have unexpected visions like you had yesterday when you’re in the middle of helping someone, no? We will work on this slowly so you won’t get overwhelmed,” he said, once again shifting in his seat.

“It sounds like Imperator is making you do this…” I mumbled, looking off to the side not wanting to make any eye contact.

“She did request my help in aiding you, but ultimately it was my choice. I must admit that after what happened yesterday, my interest has been peaked so to speak. I can’t turn away from someone asking for help.” That put me a little at ease. It would be easier to have someone around to help me figure out how to get a handle on what was happening to me, but I still had the little voice in the back of my head telling I had to deal with my shit on my own, and that no one really cared about my issues. “For now, I would just like for you to read over those pages, and we can discuss the rest tomorrow.” I let out a heavy sigh.

I was about to tell him that I was in agreement with his plan, albeit reluctantly, when there was a knock on the door, followed by it immediately opening. “Copia dear, you’re late for our breakfast da-” A woman came barging into the room, but stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes landed on me. The woman was tall with blonde hair and blue eyes, a rounded face and thin lips, and she was wearing a form fitting habit. My breath caught in my throat and my chest tightened. It was the woman from my vision, the one who was sitting on the fountain.

Panic took over my body, and I gathered up the papers and sprang up to my feet. “R-right, uh, tomorrow, sounds good,” I stammered as I nearly sprinted out of Copia’s office.

I headed in the direction I remembered seeing a glass door that lead out to a courtyard of some sort. I needed some fresh air.

The courtyard was about the size of a baseball field with patches of lush green grass between the cobblestone pathways, a few large stone pots with flowers, two wooden benches, and a willow tree in the middle. The tree looked old with a thick trunk and countless branches that made up a large curtain like canopy.

It felt like the tree was calling to me, whispering offers of comfort and calm in its embrace. I slipped past its curtain of leaves and found a suitable seat at the base. The ground was soft beneath me as I sat down, the tree’s bark lightly dug into my back as I leaned against it. Even in the shade of the tree, the air was warm and comfortable.

I took a few deep breaths and my thoughts started to settle down. _So Copia knows that woman… Is he also a part of everything else I saw?_ I looked down at the stack of papers in my hands. The first page looked like a journal entry, the date in the top corner stated that it was early 1347. The writer talked about their ‘advisor’ seeing “ _death on the backs of rats”,_ and to take opportunity to welcome those who realized God has turned his back on them to the Church of Satan. The next couple of pages talked about the coming of the Black Plague and the resulting growth of the ministry. _So, they predicted the Plague, how is that supposed to be helpful?_ I scowled and continued reading.

Next came more journal writing, but this time it was dated in the mid 1400’s and written by a young woman. The woman was a little more specific about the oracle.

> “ _Mother told me we were going to see the Oracle this morning. I was so elated, the Oracle rarely saw to those outside the elder clergy. I wanted to know if there was anything that will come to be for Thomas and me. My love for him grows more with each passing day, and I want us to be together forever. It’s what I’ve been praying to the Unholy Lord for after I spotted him in the gardens those years ago. Mother and I were escorted to the Oracle’s chambers and were told to wait. She came out in the most beautiful black dress I ever saw, and her face was covered in a black veil, hiding her features from us. We all sat on the large cushions on the floor. She instructed Mother and I to hold each other’s hand, then hold onto her hand when ready. We did as we were instructed, and the room grew cold as if we were suddenly standing on top of a mountain in the middle of winter. She then started to speak in a language I could not comprehend, but Mother knew what was being spoken. The Oracle fell over after she finished speaking, then we were escorted out. Mother won’t tell me what she said no matter how much I plea. I pray that she will change her mind.”_

The entries following told that the mother was able to save the daughter when the boy Thomas messed up some kind of summoning ritual, thanks to what the oracle told her. It was pretty fucked up, but not helpful for me, and I was already half way through the stack of papers. _They really weren’t kidding when they said there was little information… How much you wanna bet the rest is just as useless…_ I let out a short sigh, closing my eyes and leaning my head back on the tree trunk. I cleared my heads of thoughts and focused on my breathing. Nothing was helping me get the answers I wanted at the moment, so I figured it would be a good idea to relax, then try to do some more digging later on.

As I continued to relax, feeling the light breeze caress my face, a thought popped into my mind. Since there is so little written about oracles, it would be a good idea for me to start my own journal and write down everything that happens. I resolved to ask Cirrus to help me find a notebook or something I could write in the next time I saw her.

My eyes opened at the sound of the leaves rustling. It was darker out than it was a few minutes ago. _Did I fall asleep?_ I pondered. A yawn snuck up and escaped pass my lips as I stood up and walked out of my little hiding spot under the tree and looked up at the sky. It was definitely sunset; the sun was tucked away behind the rooftop of the abbey and the sky was painted with vivid shades of pink and dark blue. I couldn’t help but worry a little. I do sometimes have issues with sleeping too much, and I hopped this wasn’t one of my signs of an episode coming on. I rolled my shoulders to get out some of the stiffness in my muscles and folded the papers in half vertically and tucked them into one of the back pockets of my jeans, then decided to go back to Copia’s office and see if he could get me back to my room so I could finish reading the rest of the papers.

When I knocked on his door, there was no answer. I groaned as I waited a few more minutes and still got no response. I was going to have to find my way back on my own. My shoulders slumped a little as I turned on my heels and started to make my way in the direction I was mostly sure would lead me to where I wanted to go.

By some weird stroke of luck, I was able to get back to the doors to the mess hall. _That’s motherfucking progress bitches!_ I smiled to myself as my chest welled up with pride. I propped my hands on my hips as I walked pass the doors, feeling overly confident in the direction I chose to continue walking.

“Evelynn!” I froze mid step and turned toward the sound and saw someone lightly jogging up to me. “Where in Satan’s name have you been?” Aether asked as he came right up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. My face scrunched up in confusion.

“I was in the courtyard back there,” I pointed my thumb behind me. “I guess a fell asleep for a little bit. I’m sorry.” I saw his eyes squint at me, and I squirmed slightly under his intense gaze.

“You’ve been gone for almost a whole day…” he finally said.

“What? No, it could only have been a few hours at most. It’s sunset outside,” I replied, chuckling lightly in disbelief. Aether shook his head a little.

“No Evelynn, it’s sunrise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really struggled with this chapter, so I really hope you liked it. I'm a super perfectionist, so it takes a lot of re-working to get my writing to go the way I want it, but I will make it through! *insert superhero pose* hahaha anyway, thanks for stopping by, and if you want to, go check out my super boring tumblr. It's pretty much the only social media I'm on anymore...
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/phantomrose54


	5. The Hunted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, before we begin, I'm putting up a trigger warning for this chapter for topics about suicide/self harm.

I was desperately hoping this was one of those moments that someone would just start giggling before shouting ‘psych!’ and laugh hysterically at my expense. The longer I stood there looking back at Aether, the more I knew that this wasn’t a joke. I had somehow managed to disappear for a whole day with no one being able to find me.

“Maybe I was just really tired? It didn’t really feel like I fell asleep at all though…” I whispered, more to myself than to Aether. “I’m sorry if I made you guys worry. I kind of got freaked out and wanted to some space for a little bit,” I nervously scratched the back of my neck. I explained to him what happened in Copia’s office and what I’ve read so far in the papers that were given to me.

“That isn’t a lot to work with,” he mumbled.

“Tell me about it…”

“How about we get some food, and we can go through the rest of those pages together,” he offered.

“Uh, sure, thanks.” I was caught off guard by his sudden offer to help. Why was everyone so willing to help me? I decided to not over think it, and besides, I was starting to enjoy spending more time with him.

We went to the mess hall, and luckily it was empty except for about three other people. We were able to get some food before spreading the papers across the space on the table between us. One page immediately snagged my attention as soon as it poked out from under the other pages. A drawing had taken up the front of the paper with a description on the back. The drawing was of the mark on my forehead, and the description talked about how it was the mark of the oracle placed on them when Lucifer picks one from the bloodline. I sneered. _It’s a real shit bloodline then…_ Aether looked up at me, but I didn’t say anything. I pushed the papers away from me and focused on finishing my food. I couldn’t help the feeling of irritation that settled in the pit of my stomach. There was nothing written on those pages that was going to help me, and I didn’t want to waste anymore of my time on it.

“Hey, do you think you can help me find a notebook or something I can use?” I asked Aether when my earlier idea finally popped back into my head.

* * *

One month passed by before I knew it. Despite the rocky start, I was able to make a routine more or less. My mornings would start with breakfast with Cirrus and Cumulus, Aether and Dew would occasionally join us, then I would be in Copia’s office doing some sort of exercise with meditation or potions (supplied to us by some of the witches the Church kept on retainer) or a mix of both. He has also been trying to teach me Latin due to the fact I’m always picking the books that are in Latin for my own research. A lot of the pictures in those books were misleading… After that, I would spend some time in the library writing out what did or didn’t happen during the exercises in my notebook, then dinner usually by myself, and finally Cirrus typically hunts me down to bring me to the ghoul’s common area to hang out with them. Although, most of the time I was there, I would end up just doing something with Aether. We would talk, play games, watch movies, pretty much anything.

Cumulus would tease me that I had an obvious crush on Aether, but I would deny it every time. But as time went on, the more I denied having feelings for him, the more I thought that maybe I did. Whenever I’m around him, I feel a weird fluttering sensation in my chest, and I find myself hanging on his every word. I found myself always looking forward to when we could spend time together and that I couldn’t get enough. Each time the thought of me having a crush on him came into my mind, I was quick to squish it back down and as far away as I could. I couldn’t afford to let myself get distracted. I knew that we were just friends and that someone like him would never have any interest in me.

I lightly tapped my notebook on my thigh and chewed on my bottom lip as I walked to the mess hall, deep in thought. I was trying to connect some dots about my powers, but it was starting to feel like I was going around in circles. I walked through the doors of the mess hall and narrowly avoided running into a sister of sin, and when I looked up to apologize, I saw that it was **her.** It was the woman from my vision, the one I found out was involved with Cardinal Copia. Vera. I never told him that it was her that I saw, and I try to avoid her as much as I possibly could, even though she would often burst into the Cardinal’s office and interrupt whatever it was we were working on.

I squeaked out a quick ‘I’m so sorry’ then power walked to the end of a table on the far end of the mess hall. I could have sworn I felt her stare burn a hole in the back of my head. As I waited for my food, I skimmed through my notebook and the various loose pages of information from other sources I stuffed in there. The only real discovery I’ve been able to make so far has been that in order for me to have any kind of premonition, whether feeling or vision, I had to have skin to skin contact with someone. So, suffice to say, I’ve limited physical contact with everyone because I was still not ready to experience having a vision again. What I couldn’t figure out was why I had only the one vision, and the others have just been the feeling of the kinds of bonds I had with those I would end up growing close with.

The feelings were the weird electric sensation that went through me followed by feeling like I was with a friend I’ve known for my whole life. When it happened with Cirrus, I just wrote it off as some fluke, but it happened again with Cumulus, Rain, and then even on of the Sisters in the infirmary. It was confirmed for me when I found some writing that talked about how in the past some of the high clergy members were chosen based on the Oracle’s feeling. What made it so frustrating was that it didn't happen with everyone, like Aether or even Copia, and I couldn't figure out why.

The beginning of a stress headache was starting to form as my food was set down in front of me. I mumbled my thank you and then started eating. I ate my food relatively quickly because I wanted to get to my room with enough time for a bath before Cirrus would presumably come to get me. I made record time eating my food, cleaning up, then getting to my quarters.

I put my notebook away in one of my nightstands next to my bed before shedding my clothes and walking into the bathroom. As I turned on the water to start my bath, I began to feel nauseous and lightheaded. _Maybe I’m stressing myself out too much…_ I rubbed my eyes and went over to one of the sinks to take a few sips of water from the faucet. When I looked up to the mirror my vision went fuzzy and my whole body grew weak.

The bathroom door opened and all I was able to see was a tall black blob come towards me. My legs gave out and I fell to the floor.

“Well, that’s annoying. That dose should have knocked you out by now,” I faintly heard someone say. The water in the bathtub shut off, then pain erupted across my scalp as the intruder grabbed a fist full of my hair and pulled my head up. “Come on, we need to get your sorry ass in the tub before you become total dead-weight,” the person said, giving my hair another tug. I let out a whimper and struggled to get up to my knees. I was fading fast, and I didn’t have the strength to fight back. My tormentor hooked an arm around my waist and lifted me up enough to start walking.

I felt the smooth cold surface of my bathtub against my exposed skin as I was roughly pushed against it then flipped in. The warm water sloshed around, spilling some on the floor before settling to a level just above my bellybutton.

“S-s-stop…” I barely slurred.

“Sshhh. This will be over soon,” they crooned. A cold hand wrapped around my wrist, then quickly followed by a deep stinging sensation. The next instant an all-consuming blackness took me into its hold.

* * *

A familiar sensation graced my senses as I started to wake up. Anxiety had my stomach rolling, and I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I didn’t want to be back here, to be feeling like I was floating again.

“ _Amica mea…_ Open your eyes _,”_ his voice purred in my ear. I knew it was Lucifer, but it wasn’t the voice of Adam Driver this time. This one was still familiar to me and it made my heart race.

“Nope,” I retorted stubbornly. “I’m not going through this again, so I’m just going to sit here and wait until I’m out of this stupor.” I crossed my arms over my chest and tilted my head back slightly. I felt a finger and thumb grab my chin and tilt my head down a hair. Soft lips lightly brushed against mine and his warm breath cascaded across my face. The sudden contact made my eyes snap open and my hands fly to his chest and try to push him back. My shove did nothing, and he just gently put his free hand over one of mine. I found myself staring into the eyes of my favorite ghoul, and I could feel my body start to melt and yearn to have contact with those lips again. “Cheap trick,” I said breathlessly.

His eyes scrunched up in a smile behind the silver mask. “I need you to be paying attention.” He leaned back a little from me, but still kept his hold on both my chin and hand.

“Is that why you chose to look like Aether this time?” I asked, my voice heavy with annoyance. Lucifer chuckled, and I couldn’t help but scowl.

“Yes, my dear. I know how he makes you feel, how you notice everything about him. How closely you watch all of his movements. You can’t hide anything from me.” I was about to argue and continue my streak of denial, but he continued with what he was saying, not giving me the chance. “They’re starting to make their moves darling, and you’re still struggling and falling behind.”

“Falling behind on what?”

“Your control.”

“Well it’s not exactly like an instructional manual has been left behind. Maybe you should have brought around more oracles before now so then we wouldn’t be having this problem!” I knew it was a bad idea to mouth off to someone who could easily kill me with a flick of their wrist, but the frustration that has been building for the last month finally boiled over with his comment. His grip on my face tightened.

“Careful little one. Don’t make me change my mind on helping you.” I grit my teeth and stayed quiet. “Better. Now, I suggest you take another look back on the night you met Copia. Never deny the moon her sway.” He then leaned back in and kissed me. The kiss was slow and tender, and I could feel myself melting all over again. Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped, and Lucifer had vanished. I blinked a few times and looked around to see I was alone.

“What in the actual fuck?!” I screamed as loud as I could.

* * *

I was having the sense of Deja vu as I slowly opened my eyes to a bright white light. I felt groggy and my hearing was muffled, but I was still able to tell there were people shuffling around me. Something warm enclosed around my hand, and I stiffly held onto it. I focused on the warmth as I closed my eyes took some deep breaths.

“I think I pissed him off _…”_ The words passed my lips in a wheezy whisper.

“I don’t think so Eve.” Someone sniffled next to me. My senses where slow to return, but when they did, I found that I was wearing a hospital gown, and hooked up to a heart monitor and IV fluids. It turned out that the shuffling I heard was an audience I had that included Cirrus and Cumulus on my right, and Aether on my left. I also saw that the source of warmth on my hand was Aether holding on with his own. The kiss Lucifer gave me flashed in my mind. My face grew hot as it became flushed and the heart monitor started to ring as my heart rate jumped past one hundred twenty.

Cirrus pulled me into tight embrace suddenly, taking me by surprise. “I thought we were going to lose you!” She sobbed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling so bad? I would have helped you, any of us would have helped you…” Her hold became tighter with each word she spoke.

“Cirrus, you need to let her go before you suffocate her,” Aether said. She hesitated for a moment before relenting and sitting back down in her chair.

“What are you talking about? What happened?” I asked, my voice raspy from my throat being dry as the desert. I watched them all eye each other and quickly glance down towards my hands. I followed their gaze and saw that both of my wrists were bandaged with plain white gauze that was wrapped around several times. My chest tightened and my breath caught in my throat. I frantically ripped the gauze off and revealed a line of stitches spanning horizontally across each of my wrists. My heart felt like it was going to slam out of my chest. “I… I didn’t do this…” I choked out. “S-someone came into my room and-”

“Hey, hey it’s okay. Just relax, we can talk about it later okay?” Aether interrupted me, cupping my cheek with one of his big hands. I leaned into his touch, a sense of calm washing over me. “You need to get some rest.” I gave a couple of quick jerky nods and closed my eyes.

Sleep evaded me even though I felt exhausted and relatively comfortable. Still, I pretended to sleep though because I didn’t want to worry anyone further. At some point I heard the ghoulettes leave to deal with some other duties they had. Aether stayed with me, his hand finding its way back to mine.My anxiety climbed from my stomach, up my chest, then clenched my throat as each minute passed. I wanted to explain that I wasn’t suicidal, and that there was something else going on. My eyes opened when I heard someone walk toward my bed. It was the Cardinal. His breathing was heavy and looked a little flushed.

“ _Stai bene? Questo non avrebbe dovuto succedere_ ,” he said in a rushed tone. I had no clue what he was saying when he got like this, but I knew he was feeling overwhelmed.

“Wait, Cardinal, I swear I didn’t do this. I must have been drugged or something, and someone came into my room. I couldn’t see who it was, but they forced me into the bathtub and then I passed out.” The desperate words came spilling out of me as I sat up straight.

He held up his hands to signal me to stop, then sat down in the vacant seat that was previously occupied by Cirrus. “I know, I know,” he let out a breath to steady himself. “I discovered one of the Brothers in the kitchen had indeed slipped a drug into your food under the orders of another Sibling. The unfortunate Brother has yet to tell us who was truly behind this, but I’m sure he will be changing his mind soon.” His words sent a cold shiver down my spine. I felt Aether squeeze my hand a little tighter, and a low growl rumbled in his chest.

“You remembered my vision…” My breathing became ragged as my thoughts whirred around at a million miles an hour. The image of seeing my wrists slashed open while standing in the white nothingness persisted as I tried to make sense of what was happening. Suddenly something clicked in my head. “I ran into her just before I ate. What if she’s more involved in what I saw than I originally thought?” I mumbled.

“Her who?” Copia asked. _Oh shit…_ Now was a good time to finally tell him it was his girl in my vision.

“Vera… She was the one I saw sitting on the fountain…I also recognized her voice as one of the women in the basement looking for a book…” I couldn’t bring myself to look at Copia. I was feeling guilty for keeping this from him. He stayed quiet, so I decided to change the subject. “I need a lunar calendar or something for the last month or two.”

“What for?” Aether asked. I told him about my new encounter with Lucifer, while keeping out the parts about how he took Aether’s form, his remarks on my feelings for him, and the damned amazing kiss. “I’ll take a look around and see if I can find something.”

“I can do it. I really don’t want to continue to keep you from your duties. Plus, it gives me something to do as soon as I get out of here,” I gave him a weak smile.

“Unfortunately you can’t Evelynn,” Copia finally piqued up, his voice sightly strained. I furrowed my brows at him. “Due to this incident, Sister Imperator has decided that for your safety, you are to stay in your room until we figure out who truly was one that attacked you.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I blurted out. The stubborn side of me never liked being coddled or needlessly restricted, regardless of the circumstances. Copia visibly stiffened at my outburst. “I'm not some damsel in distress or someone who needs to be babysat. And I clearly need to get back to working on our research, and I can’t particularly do that from my room now can I?” The Cardinal let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry, but Sister Imperator is insistent about it and won’t change her mind. I will admit that I am inclined to agree with her. It’s important to keep you safe until this matter has been dealt with.”

“Then why can’t we do a damn buddy system or something?”

“That's still too risky.”

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I slipped my hand out from Aether's and reached down into my gown and started to detach the heart monitor wires from the stickers on my chest. Aether tried to reach over to stop me, but I slapped his hands away. The monitor started to alarm, causing a concerned Sister to come in to see what was happening.

“Can you grab me gauze and tape?” I asked her, reaching over to the IV pump and shutting it off. I could see that she wanted to tell me to sit back and stay in bed. I gave her a look that conveyed to not argue with me, and she left to get what I asked for.

“Evelynn, you need to calm down,” Aether spoke softly, putting his hands on my shoulders, effectively stilling me.

“I am calm. I just need to have a conversation with Sister Imperator that may or may not involve a lot of cussing, I’ll decide on my way over.” I gently push his hands off and got up from the bed. My knees wobbled slightly, but I was able to stay steady on my feet. The Sister returned and I held my arm out as she took the IV out and taped the gauze down. I mumbled a thanks to her and she left.

I felt a tug on the back of my gown, and when I looked over my shoulder I saw Aether standing behind me, his chest nearly pressed up to my back.

“Well before you go cuss out Imperator, it’ll be a good idea to get changed into some regular clothes. I have a feeling you don’t want to give the whole ministry a free show. Nice tattoo by the way.” He spoke in my ear and draped his jacket on my shoulders. My face instantly turned tomato red, and I started to scream internally. _Nice going dipshit! Way to just flash your ass at them!_

“Yeah, good idea!” I nearly screeched, then practically bolted for the exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! I've been struggling with work, and handling my depression, and then I got really sick :( so life kind of kicked my ass there for a little bit. All that aside, I really hope you liked this chapter! Please leave feel free to leave a comment or come say hi on my tumblr! Thank you! <3
> 
> https://phantomrose54.tumblr.com/


	6. So Cold

The itching was getting too annoying to ignore any longer. It was two days ago that I woke up in the infirmary, so it’s been plenty of time for my wounds to heal, and I needed to get these stitches out. It didn’t help that my chat with Imperator didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I even held back on the profanity, but I still ended being confined to my room like some grounded teenager. It left me feeling cooped up and antsy, so the persistent itching was like nails on a chalkboard.

I was sitting on my double vanity sink in my bathroom, my legs awkwardly folded under me with my feet and ankles in the basin of one of the sinks. The taste of metal coated my tongue as I held the tweezers between my teeth. My left hand was up to my face as I tried to cut the sutures in my wrist with the surgical scissors in my right hand. _This should have been way easier. Did they use Kevlar thread or something?_ It was a struggle trying to coordinate using the tweezers in my mouth to hold the thread correctly and cut it with the scissors while pressing my face as close to the mirror as I could so I could see what I was doing. I made a little triumphant grunt as I managed to cut the first of six stitches in my wrist.

“Just what are you doing this time?” My body froze and my eyes widened. My eyes went from looking at the reflection my frustrations to the reflection of the person who just walked in. I felt like I was just caught trying to steal a cookie from the jar.

“Nufen…” I spoke around the tweezers still in my mouth. Aether shook his head and walked up to me. I put down the scissors and took the tweezers out of my mouth. “What? They were getting itchy,” I said as I turned toward him, putting on my most innocent smile.

“And let me guess, it was easier for you to just do it yourself than to ‘bother’ someone for help,” he said, finally stopping his approach when he got to the edge of the sink, just a few inches from me. My heart started to flutter as I felt his body heat radiating off of him.

“I know what I’m doing,” I retorted, my eyes locked on his.

“I have no doubt that you do.” His voice was like silk. I was so distracted I didn’t notice him picking up the scissors or taking the tweezers from my hand. “So, tell me where to cut.” I jolted slightly as I snapped out of my light daze.

I lifted my wrist up to him and walked him through where to hold with the tweezers and where to cut, then how to pull the sutures out. A small hiss escaped me each time a suture came out. Aether would tell me sorry every time, and I would feel his warm breath on my cheek. With the last suture out, he set the tools down and gave my hands a gentle squeeze before leaning over and turning on the faucet I was sitting under.

I let out a high-pitched yip and scrambled off the sink. “You jerk!” Aether laughed and walked off into my bedroom. I shut the water off with a huff and grabbed one of my towels to dry off my legs. It was a good thing I was wearing shorts, so I didn’t have to deal with changing my clothes. I jogged into my bedroom after quickly drying my legs, then I balled up the towel and chucked at Aether, aiming for the back of his head. It softly hit before falling limply to the floor. Aether grabbed the back of his head with a dramatic gasp. He spun around on his heel to face me while waving some papers he had in his hand.

“And after all the trouble I went through to get this for you? How could you?” His free hand was now on his chest as he did his best impression of a soap opera diva. I just laughed as I walked up to him.

“You started it. So, I take it you were able to find something?” I held my hand out for the papers while giving him the best puppy dog eyes I could muster. Two could play at this game.

“Yeah, and you were right,” he gave me the pages, and I started to skim them. “It was the peak of the full moon that night you had your vision, and to top it off, it’s the peak of the full moon again tonight.”

I sat down on the edge of my bed with a heavy sigh still looking at the papers. Aether sat down next to me, and I didn’t see that his gaze was on me instead of the pages in my hands. “How did I not notice this before? At least I don’t have to wait too long to figure out if this theory is true…” A shiver ran through me at the thought of having another vision. The first one still haunts my nightmares and barely lets me sleep as it is. Did I really want to take the chance to add to it?

Aether must have notice the shift in my mood and put one of his arms around my shoulders and pulled me in for a sideways hug. I leaned into him and resisted the urge to nuzzle my face into the crook of his neck. I felt it would have been too forward, and I didn’t want to ruin the moment. We stayed sitting together there on my bed for a few minutes as his warmth and steady breathing calmed my nerves.

“Can you be the one I read tonight?” I blurted out. I felt his body stiffen, and I immediately regretted opening my stupid mouth. I pulled out of his embrace. “You don’t have to! I know it probably doesn’t seem like an enticing experience to go through, so don’t feel obligated to agree…” He gently placed his hand on my arm.

“I’m more worried about you. Do you really want to go through that again?” His words caught me off guard. I still wasn’t used to having anyone who genuinely cared about my well being.

“I have to. If it works, then a huge piece of this confusing puzzle will finally be figured out.” I looked down at my fingers as I nervously picked at a hangnail.

“Okay. Then how do you want to do this?” 

* * *

The sun had set a few hours ago and the air was chilly. I sat on my balcony wrapped up in one of my fleece blankets as I watched the night sky. The moon was beautifully full and bathed the forest that surrounded the abbey in a pale silver light. I’ve spent most of my nights sitting there on the balcony when my nightmares kept me from going back to sleep, and I would watch the sun rise. The wind started to pick up, and I pulled the blanket around me tighter. I was delaying what was coming. I didn’t feel ready, but then again, I don’t think I was ever going to be.

When I started to lose feeling in my fingers and toes, I finally forced myself to go back into my room. Aether was waiting for me in one of the chairs that was in front of the fireplace that was currently sporting a steady propane fueled flame. I discarded my blanket on my bed and sat in the chair across from him.

“I’m sorry for making you wait…” I fidgeted in my seat. My body shook lightly from a mix of being cold and nervous. I was so on edge, the sound of a chair scraping along the floor made me jump. Aether pulled his chair towards me until our knees were touching.

“You still don’t have to do this Eve,” he whispered to me. I shook my head. I appreciated his kindness beyond words, but I needed go through this, I needed to know if my visions truly could only happen under the full moon.

“It’s okay, really. I’m just a little gun shy I guess.” I swallowed down the lump in my throat and took a deep breath. “I’m ready when you are.” I tried my best to give him a reassuring smile. He hesitated for a moment before giving a slight nod, then held out his hand. I stared at his hand, taking in all the small details I never noticed before, all the callouses from years of playing the guitar, the scratches on his ring. I began to chew on my lip. Another deep breath and I reach out for his hand. The moment my fingers touched his palm, I stiffened and felt the sensation of being pulled out of my body. 

* * *

I was once again surrounded by the white nothingness. _Well, looks like I get some consistency._ I mused. It didn’t take long for my surroundings to change. I was standing in the woods, surrounded by tall, looming trees. There was a scant amount of daylight illuminating the landscape, and it was fading quickly. A loud howl penetrated my eardrums. I couldn’t find the source of the sound and panic exploded through me, making my pulse quicken and my breaths shorten and become rapid. The shadows around me began move and close in. My body proceeded to move completely on its own, and I took off in a sprint further into the woods, the sound of heavy feet pounding the earth close behind me. _Run faster, run faster!_ Whatever was after me let out another piercing howl.

As I kept running, the scene changed and morphed into the courtyard with the large willow tree. My brain was quick to register that the large tree was suddenly in front of me and I was able to slow myself down before I collided with it at full force. I propped myself against the tree with my arm as I tried to catch my breath. _Note to self… Work on cardio…_

“Evelynn,” a voice spoke behind me. I turned around and was met with a blur of flesh coming at me. A hand enclosed on my throat and slammed me into the tree, causing my vision to become unfocused and strangled cry escape my chest. “No more running you little pest. You had your chance to be spared, but now your fate will be the same as theirs. We will cleanse the world of this filth, and we’ll start with you,” the person hissed. _Ugh, this guy talks too much._ I made an attempt at prying the large hand off me, but they squeezed harder the more I struggled.

“Giver her back!” A booming voice rang through the courtyard. I glanced past my captor's shoulder and saw a fuzzy silhouette that seemed human, but I could tell they had horns and a tail that was flicking around angrily behind them.

“Not another step ghoul, or I’ll snap her pretty little neck,” my captor called back.

My surroundings began to ripple as if a pebble was thrown into still water, then disappeared. I dropped to my knees and heaved out loud coughs as I tried to suck in the air I was just deprived of. “This whole trying to kill me shtick is getting old!” I yelled. I sat back on my haunches and wiped the sweat off of my face with the bottom of my shirt.

I found myself sitting on the shore of a crystal-clear lake that was surrounded by more woods. It was nighttime with a waxing crescent moon. The cold air caused goosebumps to erupt across my skin and shivers racked through my body. _Whose stupid ass idea was this?_ Two people came walking out of the woods and up to the edge of the water just a few feet in front of me. They both just stood there for a while just admiring the beautiful view. Neither seemed to notice I was there.

“I told you it would be worth the trek,” one of them said.

“Aether?” The lack of light made it difficult to see who it was, but from what I could see and hear, I could tell that Aether was one of them, and the other was a woman. I stood up and tried to walk over, but my feet wouldn't move. Neither one of them still didn’t reacted to me. I couldn’t hear what the other person said, but my chest tightened as I watched feminine figure reach up and wrap her arms around Aether's neck. He leaned down to meet her in a passionate kiss and brought his arms around her waist to pull her closer to him. My cheeks began to feel wet as tears spilled down uncontrollably. As the pair pulled away from each other, I felt the sensation of being pulled back into my body.

I sprang up to my feet with a sharp gasp, causing my chair to fall over. I spared Aether a quick glance before turning on my heels and sprinting for the bathroom. The door slammed behind me, and I quickly locked it.

I put my hands over my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut while biting my lip, trying to stifle the sobs that were trying to burst out. I slumped to the floor and curled in on myself as much as I could. I didn’t know what felt worse, the nausea in the pit of my stomach, the crushing headache that made it feel like my eyeballs were going to pop out of my skull, or the feeling of my heart shattering into a million pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have a few apologizes to make. First, I'm sorry that this chapter was shorter than normal, but I felt it needed to end where it did. Second, I'm sorry but I will be disappearing for a while... I'm in a really dark place right now and I just don't have it in me to do anything. I hope you can forgive me, and maybe if I make it through this I'll be able to write again. <3


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